CORTLAND, N.Y. — Authorities have released more details on a boating accident on Skaneateles Lake that severely injured an 8-year-old girl, though it remains unclear if anyone will face criminal charges in connection with the incident.
The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office has identified Jamie Wheeler, 33, of Homer, as the driver of a boat that struck her stepdaughter, Kaelynne Driscoll, while the girl and her father were tubing on the lake July 6.
According to earlier reports from the sheriff's office, Kaelynne and her father were tubing on the lake when they struck a wake, ejecting both of them into the water.
As Wheeler circled the boat around, they were both struck by the 17-foot Bayliner boat's propellers, deputies said. Both were transported to Upstate University Hospital.
Christopher Driscoll was out of the hospital within a few days; Kaelynne lost an arm and a leg and is still recovering at Upstate University Hospital.
Investigators say that Driscoll's two-year-old son was also on the boat along with Driscoll's 24-year-old brother, Andrew, and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Chelsea Greene, both of Florida.
Deputies did not say whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the incident.
